The story is played out in San Simeon, on the yacht “Oneida,” and in Daisy’s Santa Monica Beach House. Also in a forest camp in Cuba, and occasionally in limbo. Times are various, from 1918 to 1938. This is the story of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies, “Daisy.” They meet when he is fifty, vastly wealthy and one of the most powerful men in America, while Daisy is fifteen, and already a showgirl on Broadway. W.R. makes Daisy a movie star, but insists that she play only his idealized vision of her as an innocent, virginal, dramatic actress. Daisy, a born comedienne, fights to be herself—a seductive, hard-drinking gamine. Meanwhile, she becomes the hostess of San Simeon, Hearst’s castle on the coast of California, where each weekend movie stars, Presidents, actors, intellectuals and Broadway hoofers come to party. When Thomas Ince, a motion picture producer with eyes for Daisy, is killed during a party on W.R.’s yacht, the “Oneida,” she suspects that W.R. shot him in a jealous rage. At the end of Act One, W.R. has the opportunity to run for President, but the political bosses insist he give up his notorious mistress. Daisy realizes she has to leave him. In Act Two, W.R. demonstrates his deep love for Daisy, while she struggles to escape his smothering control of her talent. As the musical ends, Daisy faces the astonishing revelation of who killed Ince. She also has to deal with the fact that W.R. has lost his fortune, and in a final number W.R. and Daisy discover their true feelings for each other. Musical Numbers Act I Tour Guide (hold your own ticket) Tour Guide Aren’t I Lucky To Be Me? W.R., Louella The Spanish American War Tango W.R., Willicombe Daisy Daisy Suddenly So Alive W.R. The Virgin Marion Daisy Riding On The Wind Connie The Old San Simeon Rag Willicombe Daisy (reprise) Daisy, W.R., Willicombe, Louella, Millicent Act II Tour Guide (living it up) Tour Guide Independent Dame Daisy The Lady Can Wait Millicent What Makes a Man W.R. Stars! Louella It’s Too Late To Leave You/Just You And Me Daisy, W.R. Tour Guide Tour Guide Author’s Note William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies were larger- than-life Americans, amazingly powerful, successful, and equally self-indulgent. She was loved and admired by most people, he was hated by an equal number. Hearst, called “W.R.” by everyone who knew him, was one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in America. With his string of newspapers, radio stations, magazines and a movie studio he could make or break almost anyone. He had a great deal to do with getting this country into one war with Spain, and almost dragged it into another with Mexico because of a dispute over the silver mines he owned there. He started as a champion of labor and ended up as its oppressor. Marion Davies, “Daisy,” was his mistress for 35 years. She was a beautiful and talented movie star, and presided over fabulous weekly parties at San Simeon, Hearst’s famous castle on the California coast, and at her own Beach House in Santa Monica, California. They lived through incredible years with enough crises and high drama to fill several ordinary lives. —Robert White